


Return to Me

by LegolasLovely



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Comfort Food, F/M, Fluff, Post-Quest of Erebor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:28:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25050928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegolasLovely/pseuds/LegolasLovely
Summary: Fíli and Thorin are on a secret quest, leaving Kíli and (Y/N) to watch over the kingdom. The two left behind find comfort in each other.
Relationships: Fíli (Tolkien)/Reader, Kíli (Tolkien) & Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 44





	Return to Me

**Author's Note:**

> To see the painting of Kee and (Y/N)'s view out the window and info about the treats mentioned, click [Here](https://legolaslovely.tumblr.com/post/622631446299983872/return-to-me)

Kíli found (Y/N) sitting at her window. She hadn’t heard him come in the room though he’d knocked on the heavy wooden door and its hinges creaked with the warning of his entrance. She was too lost in the clouds. As the sun set, it painted its puffy canvases with countless colors- golds and maroons, magentas and violets, until a dark navy poured from above and washed the other paints away like water, leaving all in the grey of twilight. 

It wasn’t customary for dwarven chambers to have windows at all, but Fíli had them built into the front side of the mountain for his nature loving One. Kíli, on more than one occasion, was invited for an early breakfast or a late supper when the three of them were entertained by the spectacles of the earth. Needless to say, Kíli wasn’t surprised to find (Y/N) in that particular high backed chair tonight, and yet his heart did clench knowing she’d experienced this show alone.

“I thought I smelled pastries in here,” he said, making her jump. “I’m sorry, I thought you heard me.”

“Kíli, come in,” she said, immediately standing and becoming the hostess. She pulled the other decorative, but comfortable chair from Fíli’s desk, wrapping small fingers around its frame, until it sat across from hers by the window. “Sit and eat, there’s plenty.”

Before she could attempt to move the heavy side table herself, Kíli took it for her, setting it down between the two chairs. Just like that, they’d set up their box seats for the opening scene of the performance outside.

“I had quite the demanding craving for one of Rava’s hand raised pies tonight, but when I went into the kitchens, he told me all the pastry in the entire mountain had already been baked and sent up to you.”

“Liar,” (Y/N) said, full of affection.

Kíli looked at the platter on the table. It usually glinted in the sun, but now it’s only duty was to hold dozens of untouched profiterole pastries and two delicate glasses of syllabub. If Kíli’s tracker nose was correct, it was lemon. Fíli’s favorite.

“You’re right,” he said. “It looks like you have just enough to feed my brother.”

She laughed at that, watching him pop one of the layered, round treats in his mouth. It exploded with custard that dripped down his chin and made him jolt forward to take the cloth she offered. 

“I suppose this is what Fíli usually asks for,” she said. “Rava must have forgotten that the only dwarf who could eat this much pastry isn’t here.”

“Good thing I came, then.”

“Indeed.”

Kíli handed her the glass of syllabub, delicate spoon clinking in excitement at the chance to be used. Another one of the pastries was dipped in the tangy cream in his own glass, but it went sour in his mouth. This was a treat to be enjoyed only when his brother returned and he knew (Y/N) felt the same, despite her best intentions for the desserts.

“They don’t taste right,” she said.

“I’ll whip Rava.”

A smile, but it was small. “You’ll do no such thing.”

He relieved her of the melting glass and shoved the small table to the side before shimmying his chair up next to hers. He took her cool hand. 

“They say sunsets are the same everywhere, but I don’t think any are as beautiful as ours,” she said, squeezing his fingers.

“Anyone who says that has never seen an Erebor sunset. I’ve spent nights in many realms, but none of them have a view quite like this.”

“Not even Rivendell?” 

“You know I wasn’t paying attention to the sunsets when we were there.”

She laughed. It was the first whole hearted sound he’d heard from her since his brother left. Her bottom scooted back in her chair and she kicked her feet up to lay her legs in his lap. It was something he’d seen her do to Fíli many times. He patted her skirts and turned to face her, matching her posture and slouching against the high back of the chair. A smile, a roll of his thumb over her hand, all attempts to drag from her what she was feeling or thinking. 

It worked.

“Are you sure you can’t tell me where he is?” she asked.

“(Y/N). You know I’d tell you if I could, but I don’t even know where he and Uncle have gone. The secrecy is for their protection.”

A curt hum in begrudging agreement and he’d lost her eyes as she stared at the red embroidered pattern on her skirts. Flowers and vines. A gift Fíli had made for her for no occasion other than having another day to love her.

“They may be closer to us than we could imagine. Fíli might only be three leagues away. Or on his way home to us right now.”

She shook her head. “No. He feels far away.”

Even with her head tilted down, he could see her chin quiver. Watching her cry- her skin grow pink, her throat work, the tears slide down her cheeks and land on the back of the chair or on the flowers over her legs- and knowing he could do nothing to soothe her, hurt him more than any injury he’d ever suffered. _This_ was suffering. Taking care of his brother’s wife while Fíli, his best friend, was away in danger- this was the worst of it.

But she held tight to his hands. That was something- _he_ was something. A comfort to her.

“I took it for granted- our time together. Now, with him gone for so long, I feel it all slipping away. The memories are…” she sniffed, finally looking up at Kíli’s wince, his crumpled brow. “I can’t remember his face. I know it- the blond hair, the braids, the eyes- but I can’t picture him in my mind anymore. Like he’s gone from me forever.”

“No, (Y/N).” He sang her name as a caretaker sings a lullaby to a child without a mother. He held her face, swiping away fewer and fewer tears as she steadied herself before him.

“I don’t even have letters or miniatures,” she said. “We were always together, we didn’t need them.”

“He’d never leave you willingly.”

“Or you.” She brought his hands from her cheeks to her lips and kissed them before freeing him to wipe the aftermath of her tears on one of the napkins from the dessert table. Her ears glowed scarlet and ashamed as she waved Kíli away. 

“I’m sorry. I’m fine. Aren’t you hungry? I’m sure Rava would send up one of his hand raised pies if you still wanted it.”

Kíli hummed. “No, I have something else. I’ll be back in a moment.” He stood to leave, but circled back to her before he reached the door. “Don’t you dare lock me out the second I leave.”

“Darn. You see right through my plans,” she said with a wet chuckle. 

He raised a brow and pointed a warning finger before sliding out of the room.

It was only then (Y/N) noticed the sun had set and they had been sitting in a nearly dark room. She took her time lighting the candles, standing some in the window sill and on the side table. Even the best box seats had to be well lit during the intermission of the performance. 

The treats on the table were waiting for her attention, but she couldn’t bear to move them. What was she to do, throw them all away? Fíli would have a fit from wherever he was if she did that. But she was sure they were rancid after all the time they’d spent ignored. She opened one of the cloth napkins and covered the platter so she didn’t have to look at it.

Just then the door opened and Kíli flew in, something clearly whirring in his mind. He waved a hand at the desserts as he closed the door. “Pay them no mind, I’ll take care of them when I leave. Sit.”

She did so on the edge of her seat and he joined her on the edge of his. When he looked at her- strong suspicion on a tear soaked face- all urgency left him and he softened. He took her hand and gently placed a small wooden frame in her possession. As his fingers left hers, they revealed a miniature painting of him and Fíli from years ago.

Before a traditional, but very dated backdrop, sat Kíli in an ornate chair, not unlike a throne. Behind him, with his hand laid heavily on Kíli’s shoulder, stood a short and quite lanky Fíli. He may have been twenty years old. His blond hair was much curlier in his youth, so it was pulled back into a tight ponytail. A growing beard was thin and even patchy over his cheeks, and though he wasn’t even close to smiling, one stubborn dimple still shone clear in his left cheek. Kíli, of course, was grinning as brightly as ever.

“Oh…” she gasped, laughed, squeaked, and welled up all in the same moment. “I’ve never seen this before.”

“Fíli hates it. The vain thing has never allowed it to leave my chambers, but I think he’ll forgive me for letting you have it under the circumstances.”

She looked up at him, astonished. “I can’t take this from you.”

“It will be a loan. When he returns, we’ll have a much nicer, much bigger portrait of the two of you done, so you’ll never be without.”

She hugged him fiercely, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him so close, they both almost fell from their chairs and onto the floor. She kissed his cheek. “Thank you, Kíli.”

“You’re welcome.”

The two settled in for the closing act of the night’s performance. As the sky glowed with the market fires of Dale, the tall trees that surrounded the mountain morphed into hovering giants and breeze wiggling backdrops for bright, blinking fireflies. Fíli called them lightning bugs and insisted on watching their show even after the longest day. (Y/N) and Kíli had no problem doing so now in his honor.

“He’ll return to us soon,” Kíli said. 

(Y/N) hoped he was right and held tight to the miniature- the reminder- he’d given her.


End file.
